Musical DUers! What was the song on Imus? About NOLA....

[slor]

"I'll be gone 100 miles when day is done" is one one the lines. TIA

[Bluebear]

1. City of New Orleans

The City of New Orleans
by Steve Goodman

Riding on the City of New Orleans,
Illinois Central Monday morning rail
Fifteen cars and fifteen restless riders,
Three conductors and twenty-five sacks of mail.
All along the southbound odyssey
The train pulls out at Kankakee
Rolls along past houses, farms and fields.
Passin' trains that have no names,
Freight yards full of old black men
And the graveyards of the rusted automobiles.

CHORUS:
Good morning America how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

Dealin' card games with the old men in the club car.
Penny a point ain't no one keepin' score.
Pass the paper bag that holds the bottle
Feel the wheels rumblin' 'neath the floor.
And the sons of pullman porters
And the sons of engineers
Ride their father's magic carpets made of steel.
Mothers with their babes asleep,
Are rockin' to the gentle beat
And the rhythm of the rails is all they feel.

CHORUS

Nighttime on The City of New Orleans,
Changing cars in Memphis, Tennessee.
Half way home, we'll be there by morning
Through the Mississippi darkness
Rolling down to the sea.
And all the towns and people seem
To fade into a bad dream
And the steel rails still ain't heard the news.
The conductor sings his song again,
The passengers will please refrain
This train's got the disappearing railroad blues.

Good night, America, how are you?
Don't you know me I'm your native son,
I'm the train they call The City of New Orleans,
I'll be gone five hundred miles when the day is done.

©1970, 1971 EMI U Catalogue, Inc and Turnpike Tom Music (ASCAP)

[Ian David]

5. Old song, new meaning now: Strange Fruit by Billie Holiday, 1938

This song was originally written about the Jim Crow era and lynch mobs of The South.

Strange Fruit
By Billie Holiday

Southern trees bear strange fruit
Blood on the leaves
Blood at the root
Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze
Strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees
Pastoral scene of the gallant south
The bulging eyes and the twisted mouth
The scent of magnolia sweet and fresh
Then the sudden smell of burning flesh
Here is a fruit for the crows to pluck
for the rain to gather
for the wind to suck
for the sun to rot
for the tree to drop
Here is a strange and bitter crop

Composed by Abel Meeropol (aka Lewis Allan)
Originally sung by: Billie Holiday
http://www.bluesforpeace.com/lyrics/strange-fruit.htm


Also:

Billie Holiday's Strange Fruit: Using Music to Send a Message
By Donna Hendry

Overview

Music can help people express a range of feelings and topics. Many early African-American songs, such as "The Drinking Gourd," were used to pass secret messages during the period of slavery. As Reconstruction passed into the Jim Crow Era, predominately African-American music such as jazz and blues evolved. This music explored the feelings of frustration, poverty, and depression that many African-American communities experienced. This music also began advocating for social change. Songs that promoted social activism were rare before the mid 1960s. One of the earliest of these songs, "Strange Fruit," was sung by the blues singer, Billie Holiday--she first sang it in a New York club in 1938. Though it was popular, Holiday's recording company, Columbia Records, refused to produce the song due to its controversial nature. A small record company picked it up, and it has now been commonly accepted as Holiday's signature song.

More:
http://www.jimcrowhistory.org/resources/lessonplans/hs_lp_billie_holiday.htm

[Warren DeMontague]

2. Arlo Guthrie

ahh, excellent song.

[madeline_con]

3. "City of New Orleans"...

about a train of the same name. Old tune...

[slor]

4. I say this not in jest...

you people here are some of the best and the brightest of this country! I am so glad to be a member of the DU family!